HOT ICE EXPERIMENT

SODIUM ACETATE OR HOT ICE MATERIALS

1-liter clear vinegar (weak acetic acid)

4 tablespoons baking soda (sodium bicarbonate)

PREPARE THE SODIUM ACETATE OR HOT ICE

1. In a saucepan or large beaker, add baking soda to the vinegar, a little at a time and
stirring between additions. The baking soda and vinegar react to form sodium acetate
and carbon dioxide gas. If you don't add the baking sodaslowly, you'll essentially get
a baking soda and vinegar volcano, which would overflow your container. You've
made the sodium acetate, but it is too dilute to be very useful, so you need to remove
most of the water.
a. Here is the reaction between the baking soda and vinegar to produce the
sodium acetate:
b. Na+[HCO3] + CH3COOH CH3COO Na+ + H2O + CO2
2. Boil the solution to concentrate the sodium acetate. You could just remove the
solution from heat once you have 100-150 ml of solution remaining, but the easiest
way to get good results is to simply boil the solution until a crystal skin or film starts
to form on the surface. This took me about an hour on the stove over medium heat. If
you use lower heat you are less likely to get yellow or brown liquid, but it will take
longer. If discoloration occurs, it's okay.
3. Once you remove the sodium acetate solution from heat, immediately cover it to
prevent any further evaporation. I poured my solution into a separate container and
covered it with plastic wrap. You should not have any crystals in your solution. If you
do have crystals, stir a very small amount of water or vinegar into the solution, just
sufficient to dissolve the crystals.
4. Place the covered container of sodium acetate solution in the refrigerator to chill.

ACTIVITIES INVOLVING HOT ICE

The sodium acetate in the solution in the refrigerator is an example of a supercooled liquid.
That is, the sodium acetate exists in liquid form below its usual melting point. You can
initiate crystallization by adding a small crystal of sodium acetate or possibly even by
touching the surface of the sodium acetate solution with a spoon or finger. The crystallization
is an example of an exothermic process. Heat is released as the 'ice' forms. To demonstrate
supercooling, crystallization, and heat release you could:

Drop a crystal into the container of cooled sodium acetate solution. The sodium
acetate will crystallize within seconds, working outward from where you added the
crystal. The crystal acts as a nucleation site or seed for rapid crystal growth. Although
the solution just came out of the refrigerator, if you touch the container you will find
it is now warm or hot.
 Pour the solution onto a shallow dish. If the hot ice does not spontaneously begin
crystallization, you can touch it with a crystal of sodium acetate (you can usually
scrape a small amount of sodium acetate from the side of the container you used
earlier). The crystallization will progress from the dish up toward where you are
pouring the liquid. You can construct towers of hot ice. The towers will be warm to
the touch.

You can re-melt sodium acetate and re-use it for demonstrations.

Elephant toothpaste experiment

HOW TO:

1. Simply add a spoonful of Permanganate crystal to the beaker.

2. Add 20mL of 50% Hydrogen peroxide to it.
3. Cloud of steam and oxygen splash into air!
CHEMISTRY OF IT:

It is a reaction between 50% Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and Potassium permanganate (KMnO4) . It
is a very vigorous reaction which steam (H2O) and Oxygen (O2) are the desired products, side
products include Manganese(IV) oxide (MnO2) and trace amount of Potassium compound.
Disclaimer: Do NOT try anything you see in this clip, as accident may happens to minors.